Battle.net now offers a list of hotfixes for Diablo III dated today (thanks Chris). The new server-side update addresses some bugs and increases the rate of high-end item drops for Acts III and IV in Hell difficulty and the entirety of Inferno difficulty. Here are the new approximate drop rates:

Items

The drop rates for high-end items (items level 61-63) have been increased for Acts III and IV of Hell difficulty and Acts I – IV of Inferno difficulty:

The new approximate drop rates are as follows:

Hell – Act III and Act IV

iLvl 61: 9% to 13.9%

iLvl 62: 1.9% to 3.45%

iLvl 63: 0% (no change)

Inferno – Act I

iLvl 61: 17.7% to 23.9%

iLvl 62: 7.9% to 12.6%

iLvl 63: 2.0% to 4.8%

Inferno – Act II

iLvl 61: 18.6% to 23.3%

iLvl 62: 12.4% to 18.6%

iLvl 63: 4.1% to 9.3%

Inferno – Act III and Act IV

iLvl 61: 24.1% to 27.1%

iLvl 62: 16.1% to 21.7%

iLvl 63: 8.0% to 16.3%

Bosses

Bosses are now guaranteed to drop at least 1 Rare item for players with 4 stacks of Nephalem Valor and at least 2 Rare items for players with 5 stacks of Nephalem Valor

Wowbagger_TIP wrote on Jun 28, 2012, 16:04:Haven't played D3 beyond the demo, so I have no Inferno experience. How does it compare to the endgame plans for Path of Exile? Is Inferno any fun? Is there any variety to it, and does it change much?

Inferno... is a frustrating experience, imo. Diablo 3 is fun for non-AH users from Normal to Hell mode, while Inferno requires some SERIOUS farming time and/or possible Auction House use, after Act 1. Still, a bit of a challenge is probably better than no challenge at all, and Act 1 Inferno is doable with purely dropped/crafted gear, I know this from personal experience. With the drop rate increases as listed in this thread, I can conceivably farm Act 1 Inferno enough to progress through the rest of the Inferno Acts.

Path of Exile... I played the closed beta, it seems entirely too boring to me to play long term. Still, it's only beta, maybe the game will improve, and they at least seem to have SOME plan for end game, even if it is sort of ripped off from Torchlight 1. I am definitely going to be keeping an eye on PoE, but currently it's a worse experience overall than Diablo 3, in my opinion.

Still, there are more choices coming out for the Hack and Slash crowd:

I got bored with PoE a while back too. Then they ratcheted up the challenge a couple patches back and introduced more characters and skills, which actually made a pretty big difference. Of course playing only Act I and most of II repeatedly can get old. When they finally add in the story elements and the other acts, I think that will help too.

I played the TL2 beta, but it didn't really grab me like I hoped. Have to see what it looks like when they release. They are supposedly going to be changing the skill tree stuff, which I found terribly boring. I think they should continue the beta after those changes, but apparently they don't agree.

I contributed for Grim Dawn, so definitely looking forward to that one.

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts." -- Bertrand Russell (I think...)